The Awami Workers Party condemns in the strongest possible terms the unilateral decision by US President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The move is a cynical example of historical revisionism and imperial arrogance, and constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and norms, which jeopardizes the possibilities for an end to the colonial occupation of Palestine and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Trump’s announcement is a reminder that US imperialism remains the principal backer for Israeli crimes being committed against the Palestinian people, in the shape of brutal military occupation, large scale land theft, settlement expansion, mass political imprisonment, denial of water and other natural resources, and apartheid-like social and economic conditions. In this context, the recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital is tantamount to rubbing salt on the wounds of the Palestinian people.

AWP also condemns the complicity of the leadership of Muslim-majority states in this decision, particularly that of Saudi Arabia, which has been engaged in the legitimization of Donald Trump as well as making overtures to Israel in exchange for US and Israeli support for its conflict with Iran. Many such states in Muslim-majority societies have cynically manipulated the Palestinian conflict to divert from their own corruption and misrule, while offering little support to the Palestinian people and colluding in the crimes against them. We must always remind ourselves that the inhuman occupation of Palestine is wrong not because the Palestinians are majority Muslim, but because they are human!

AWP calls on the Pakistani government to undertake all necessary and practical diplomatic and political steps to support the Palestinian people’s struggle for a free, secure and independent homeland with East Jerusalem as its capital. AWP further calls on its sister parties of the Left across the world to intensify support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, a nonviolent, Palestinian-led international effort to pressure the Isreali state to end the occupation.

We reaffirm our solidarity with our Palestinian brothers and sisters, whose righteous resistance remains a source of inspiration for oppressed peoples across the world. Palestine remains a stain on the global conscience, as one of the last instances of settler-colonialism across the world. Until there is justice, there can be no peace. Long live Palestine!

Issued jointly by

Fanoos Gojjar (president)
Akhtar Hussain (general secretary)
Farooq Tariq (Spokesperson)

Awami Workers Party